Parish Leadership News From Diocese of Midwest

OK now lets focus on ten (count-em) specific parish stewardship development practices.

1. Stewardship is NOT Begging
You need the proper mind set. Asking for a stewardship commitment to the parish should not be thought of as begging. Few people are inclined to aggressively support a parish or charitable institution that appears desperate, apologetic, timid or embarrassed. Avoid talking about parish needs and financial distress.

Stewardship is also not "arm twisting", "shaking someone down", "pressuring" or "giving until it hurts". Parishioner/stewards are not "targets" or "in our cross hairs".

Stewardship is about helping people learn to be cheerfully generous in support of Christ's work. Stewardship is basically making a fundamental commitment to work with God in our whole lives.

In the words of Fr. Thomas Hopko: "As Christians we acknowledge God as Creator and Owner of all. We realize that none of our words, actions, powers or properties are our own, to do with as we please. We receive them from God. We possess them - but they are not really ours. The resources we enjoy - and from which we give - are ours only by derivation. All blessings flow from God."

2. You Have to Ask
It has been proven over and over again that in virtually any philanthropic endeavor involving raising donations for important purposes, in order to be successful you have to ask people for a commitment. In fact the principal reason people do not give is that they have not been asked to give. You rarely gain commitment to a big idea purely on the basis of the concept itself. You have to ask people to go along. To commit.

"Pledge systems", or "all member canvasses", are an opportunity to "ask" respectfully and properly. One of the reasons, in our opinion, why the "dues" method is ineffective is that it provides no opportunity to present stewardship properly. It is based on "equal share"and a minimalism mentality -- and this method essentially precludes "asking". (We'll cover more of this in the next article.)

3. Prepare the Soil
"Letting the parish know that the pledge canvass is nearing is critical," noted Fr. Jensen. He suggested this includes a "pre letter" and a series of sermons describing broad dimensions of stewardship, talents, giftedness and the spiritual basis for responsibility and generosity. Some parishes, having admitted that they've really never been taught about stewardship are developing a series of classes for members.

4. A "Unified Effort" - Not an Endless Stream of Requests
By creating a "unified ask" based on hopeful futures we cause people to focus on the total mission of the parish. They think more about possibilities - and less about costs and expenses. They focus on helping to build a hopeful Christian community -- that has a future.

So don't pummel parishioners with continual separate appeals, collections and participation fees -- no matter how worthwhile the topics may be. This merely teaches people that responsible support is among many options for them to "consider". And, since they can reasonably assume that this request will be followed by many more they often hold back on full commitment to the parish.

Instead ask once and ask effectively. In many cases the object of special appeals can and should be included in the parish budget. Work to have the parish budget express the values and priorities of the parish -- and then ask people to sign on to their responsibility to support those priorities. (For more thoughts on parish budgeting see this article.

5. Use a Stewardship Committee/Team
Stewardship is not 'the priest's job'. (Alone). In many cases the priest is NOT the most potent 'asker'. ("Oh, Father, we understand, you HAVE to say this.") And, it is not the parish treasurer's job (alone).

The topics of stewardship and generosity become a wonderful opportunity for laity to take an important role in strengthening the parish.

How Do We Continue to Build a Parish for Them?
A key role of the Stewardship Team is to reiterate the parish mission & future in understandable terms. Good stewards consider the needs of current AND future generations.

Good practice is to establish a stewardship committee. Two to four respected parishioners should plan and execute the canvass. Including the treasurer and the rector on the committee is a must.

The committee:

Prepares an annual stewardship letter including a summary of past accomplishments enabled by parish funds.
Creates a pledge form and even an annual stewardship brochure
Communicates annual ministry priorities in a compelling way.
Reviews current aggregated stewardship data and establishes goals for the canvass effort.
Plans the canvas activities.
Presents the annual stewardship appeal to the parish at coffee hour, a pledge breakfast or via video.
Monitors results and organizes follow-up.

6. Advanced Preparation: Vision >> Purposeful Priorities >> Budget
The Stewardship team runs the canvass. But they are not in charge of defining the parish vision. That job belongs to the parish council.

Generating solid commitment to the canvass requires expressing a solid future in terms of how your community intends to do an ever better job of doing Christ's work -- and the money needed to do it well. This cannot be done in 2-3 weeks. Starting the stewardship implementation

Clear priorities are critical. However without an overarching Parish Vision individual priorities often seem random & disjointed. A different story every year.

cycle three weeks before budget time results in a budget that is probably only about keeping the lights on and paying the priest. It screams: 'poor preparation' and 'business as usual'. That in turn assures you of a tired, "same old" response to your annual canvass.

Roughly the proper steps include:

Vision - Express a clear overarching Gospel centered vision for the parish future. Update it once every 3-5 years.
Priorities - Refine the vision into a real, clear understandable actionable, set of shared 1-3 year priorities of the parish. Balance internal and external priorities. Some charitable. Some educational. Some spreading the gospel. Some facilities. Different parishioners will resonate differently with each area.
Budget - Express the priorities concretely in a 5, 3 and 1 year version of the parish budget.
Ask - Then ask people to pledge to the budget. "This is what we can do together."

The above (vision; priorities; budget; ask) are critical parish governance tasks. They require more than 20 a minute discussion before returning to important topics like putting stripes on the parking lot.

If as a parish council you just can't find time for these topics... well, ... that's a topic for a future newsletter.

7. Leaders Lead - Parish Council Pledges First
Speaking of the Parish Council, its members MUST lead in collectively committing to PROPORTIONAL, GENEROUS, JOYFUL support of the parish budget. We hesitate to say that Parish Council roles should be limited to large donors -- but parish council members must model exemplary stewardship within the context of their resources.

The stewardship chairperson's job will be easier if he/she is able to state: "One of the reasons I feel good about standing before you to share this year's stewardship effort is that I know that every member on the parish council has already supported the parish with a serious, willing, proportional personal pledge..."

8. How Much? -- Something "Meaningful"
Often parishioners will ask "How much should I give?" Do ask for an important, meaningful, proportional commitment. Don't ask for an equal portion of the budget. ("If we all give x...")
And, don't limit potential commitment by asking for a specific amount or even a specific percentage of income. "I never recommend focusing on a tithe (ten percent) for a variety of reasons. The most important is that some, who may be willing and able to give more than ten percent, will be limited by that suggestion." said Fr. Jensen.

A 2007 Midwest Diocese study found that 73% of households in dues based parishes offered under $1000/Lyra while pledging parishes had 36% of HH under $1k/Lyra. 22% of pledge based household's offerings exceeded $3000/Lyra.

Our webinar speaker offered another reason for not recommending specific amounts or strategies for deciding amounts. "One of the biggest motivators for people as part of non-profit giving is autonomy. People are motivated by having decisions under their control, discerning their own responses to situations."

Like most teenagers, when told what to do many adults get busy building the case against the advice. Instead help them conclude how valuable the work of the parish is to them. People invest in free will giving in much the same way as they do in any investment. When they believe in the results to be achieved by the donation, they participate aggressively.

9. Rite of Entrance
Good stewardship is a responsibility of all adults --even young adults.

Make sure the pledge form is part of your new member welcome packet and is unapologetically explained and provided to new members. Follow up if no commitment is offered after the decision to become members. The responsibility to support Christ's work through the parish is not optional! Also remember to place appropriate info on the new members section of your parish website.(New members section? What new members section! Also a future discussion.)

The same goes for parish youth who have have grown up to be (or at least think of themselves as) young adults. They should not be "excused" because they are young or "just starting out". Too many parishes offer an unwitting free pass to young members --

Grow good stewards from an early age.

only to find out that at age 38 they are still not active stewards. Learn to ask in the right way -- helping young adults to feel important and needed for their talents and their often limited financial resources.

10. Start Young
Grow good stewards as children. We often hear parishioners say, "We were never taught about 'this'". Parents who were not taught about stewardship responsibilities are unlikely to teach good habits to children. Dedicate 1-2 weeks of church school lessons annually to stewardship. The best parish stewardship system will have a hard time weaning adults of old assumptions and bad habits. Form good Christians when they are young.